McKenna must now drop Ipswich ace who lost the ball 13x

Ipswich Town’s confidence will now feel battered and bruised after Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United convincingly put the dire Tractor Boys to the sword on Saturday.

Just before this dismal 4-0 defeat, Kieran McKenna’s men had basked in the glory of a last-gasp winner away at Molineux, only to be reminded of the gulf in quality between those near the bottom of the Premier League and the attacking might of teams such as the Magpies back at Portman Road.

It was another shaky showing from wobbly Ipswich goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, who could now find his first-team spot is up for grabs after leaking four goals to gift Newcastle a perfect away day just before Christmas.

Arijanet Muric’s woes at Ipswich

Of course, the Kosovan was let down by an extremely porous back four in front of him, but the Tractor Boys ‘keeper never looked convincing in between the sticks across the 90 minutes.

Amazingly, the ex-Manchester City man was fishing the ball out of his net with barely a minute on the clock, as Alexander Isak powered an early effort home despite Muric attempting to parry the shot away.

The in-form Magpies number 14 would go on to score a blistering hat-trick in the one-sided affair, with Isak’s second of the day far too easy for the Swede to convert, who ended up simply stroking the ball past Muric after a horrendous mix-up at the back.

Off the back of such a nightmarish afternoon, McKenna could be tempted to drop his error-prone shot-stopper as games now come thick and fast in December, considering the 26-year-old also has just one paltry clean sheet next to his name from 16 Premier League outings.

Whilst he assesses the other options he has at his disposal in goal, McKenna will also be debating who his starting right-back is moving forward after Harry Clarke’s equally weak display versus Newcastle.

Clarke’s performance in numbers

Only making his fourth start in the Premier League since promotion, it feels unlikely that Clarke will be handed more frequent opportunities in the senior mix if his poor showing against Howe’s men is anything to go by.

Unfortunately, the ex-Arsenal youth player has looked somewhat out of his depth when shoved into the first-team picture in the top flight, seen in his two yellow cards versus Brentford back in late October and in this horror show against the rampant Magpies.

Clarke was regularly turned inside out by the likes of Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon marauding forward for the vibrant visitors, with zero tackles tallied up by the below-par 23-year-old showing his reluctance to get stuck in to try and thwart Newcastle constantly finding an opening.

Moreover, the right-back’s wayward passing – which saw the lacklustre Tractor Boys number two squander possession 13 times – meant no real meaningful attacks could be formed out from the back courtesy of the ropey defender, who also failed to register a single accurate cross all afternoon despite a colossal seven attempts.

This could trigger another change in personnel ahead of Ipswich travelling to Arsenal on the 27th, knowing full well that another shoddy display across the back four might well result in Mikel Arteta’s men hammering the sorry Tractor Boys in North London.

With Axel Tuanzebe out injured, McKenna would have to likely call upon Ben Johnson to replace Clarke, with the ex-West Ham United man arguably an underwhelming summer buy so far, having made just five top-flight starts himself.

Still, the frustrated Ipswich boss will have to make some tough calls now after witnessing such an abject display from his downbeat troops.